The Road to Jericho

At lunch I stopped at the local Racetrack to get some gas. I was using cash so I went inside. There were three people in front of me, and the first was an old lady buying scratch-off lottery cards. I have a bad attitude about lotteries in the first place, so it was especially frustrating to watch her buy 2 cards, pay with cash, wait for change, then pause for 10 seconds and decide to buy 2 more of another kind as well, pay with cash, wait for change, then I kid you not, repeat the entire process one last time.

She's finally out of the way, and the next person in line is a much younger woman with a European accent. She starts explaining to the cashier that she pulled her car up to get gas, but forgot that the gas cap was on the other side, and the hose won't reach. Apparently she coasted up, because now her car won't start.

The lady at the register, being the typical lady at the register at a cheap ass gas station, looks at her like she's crazy and says "well what you want me to do about it?"

"Do you have a can or something I can put a little gas in?"

"No. You can buy one of those gas cans on the shelf there."

"Can I borrow one for a minute?"

"No, but you can buy one!"

At this point I spoke up, loudly I might add, and said "she's not going to help you! I'll push the car back closer to the pump. Put me down for ten dollars on pump 8," and I threw my 10 dollar bill at her. Of course the cashier is looking at me like I'm the jackass at this point.

We walked out to the pump, and by this point there's a small crowd of women gathered around the car, asking if she found a bottle or something. I tried to pull the hose over the car, and it was lacking about a foot. So I had her put the car in neutral and shoved it backwards and "voila!" the problem was solved. I went back to my car, pumped my gas, and drove by to make sure she was OK on my way out.

I can understand having a crappy, low paying job, and feeling bad about it. I've had those jobs myself in the past, but I still didn't use it as an excuse to treat people like crap. I reserve that treatment for people like the cashier.